Interest in nanotechnology, in particular sub-microelectronic technologies such as semiconductor quantum dots and nanowires, has been motivated by the challenges of chemistry and physics at the nanoscale, and by the prospect of utilizing these structures in electronic, optical, and related devices. While nanoscopic articles might be well-suited for transport of charge carriers and excitons (e.g. electrons, electron-hole pairs, electron pairs, etc.) and thus may be useful as building blocks in nanoscale electronics, optics, and other applications, much of nanotechnology and nanoelectronics is not well-developed. Thus there is a need in the art for new and improved articles and techniques involving nanoscale devices.